


Kerosene on a Flame

by magnusbicon



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Canonical Character Death, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I'm not sorry, Light Angst, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Panic Attacks, chairman meow is a troublemaker, i still don't know how to tag, it's barely there, jace's girlfriend was maia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 00:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11635227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnusbicon/pseuds/magnusbicon
Summary: In which Alec and Magnus get stuck on an elevator immediately after having a fight.





	Kerosene on a Flame

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly it's 3 a.m. and I have no idea what I'm doing, but oh well. Enjoy!
> 
> (The title of this work is from the song Anger by Sleeping At Last)
> 
>  
> 
> Find me on tumblr as magnusbicon

Alec wasn't really sure why the fight had started. One minute things were completely fine. Maybe a little bit tense, because they had just woken up to a rather obnoxious knock on the door after getting barely any sleep, but otherwise everything seemed to be okay. Alec had stumbled out of their bedroom and to the door, opening it with his eyes still only half open, to see that there was no one there.

"Really?" He muttered under his breath, taking a step back as he went to push the door closed once more.

And from there, it went downhill.

Alec had not seen Chairman Meow until it was too late, and ended up accidentally stepping on his tail, which caused the cat to yelp loudly and scratch his leg. Alec immediately lifted his foot up, cursing and stuttering out an apology to the cat, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

The Chairman ran away from him in a streak of fury, right out of the open door, as Alec watched in panic. He was only wearing a pair of sweatpants, and didn't exactly love the idea of stepping out without a shirt, but he couldn't just let the cat get loose.

"What did you do?" Magnus said from behind him, sounding much more annoyed than Alec was prepared for. He was often somewhat grumpy when he hadn't yet had a cup of coffee, but normally it wasn't this bad.

"I accidentally stepped on his tail and he ran out before I could shut the door," Alec explained, trying to ignore his boyfriends furrowed eyebrows. He, too, was only in a pair of pajama bottoms, and Alec made a significant effort to not stare at his bare chest.

"Well are you going to go after him or just stand there staring at me?" Magnus snapped, and Alec raised his eyebrows in shock.

"I was about to, and then you asked me what happened," he said, removing his hand from the doorknob so he could cross his arms over his chest, suddenly feeling very defensive.

"Oh, so it's my fault that he got away?" Magnus put his hands on his hips, his jaw clenched.

"I didn't say that. I was just stating what happened." The air suddenly felt very heated, and not in the exciting way that they usually thrived in, but in a dangerous and impending storm kind of way.

"Well that's not what it sounded like," Magnus said, and pushed by him to walk through the door, his head turning from side to side as he looked up and down the hallway for the Chairman. 

"What is your problem? It was an honest mistake. I was still half asleep and I didn't hear him come up behind me." In the past they had fought plenty, but never over something that seemed so...inconsequential. It threw Alec off, but he still followed Magnus out into the hall, cracking the door shut behind him.

"My problem is that I was up half the night because you were on the phone with your brother talking about his  _love life_  of all things, and now you let my cat escape because you couldn't do something as simple as shut the door."

"He just got dumped by his girlfriend, and he needed someone to talk to. Like you wouldn't do the same thing if it was Catarina or Ragnor?" The second the name left his mouth he immediately regretted it, and felt blood drain from his face as Magnus stilled. Ragnor had died only 6 months ago, and the wound was still fresh. They stood there in complete silence for a few seconds, and then Magnus walked forward without answering.

"Magnus, I'm-"

"Don't." Magnus interrupted him, marching down the hall without another word.

Alec decided that he might as well check the other end of the hallway, seeing as he had put enough of his foot in his mouth already. He had no idea how things had escalated so quickly. He had been so content for the first couple seconds after he woke up. The feeling of Magnus' head resting in the space between his neck and shoulder was something he had always loved, and that morning was no exception. But then the knocking had persisted and broken the calm and warm setting that they were in, only to end up being nothing at all.

By the time he reached the end of the hallway, Alec realized that there had been no sign of Chairman Meow, and he turned to see that Magnus' results were the same.

"He must've snuck onto the elevator somehow. Figures," Magnus muttered, and slammed his hand into the button to call it to their floor.

Alec wanted to say something, to put an end to the stupid argument, but the look on his boyfriend's face held him back. If there was one thing he hated, it was making Magnus feel bad in any capacity, and he had done just that in a matter of minutes. The elevator doors opened, and they both stepped inside, avoiding each other's eyes as the doors closed behind them.

Magnus pressed the button that would take them to the bottom floor, and crossed his arms as it began its descent. Alec stared at his feet, biting down on his bottom lip to keep himself from saying anything else to set Magnus off.

However, suddenly the elevator stopped with a disturbing screeching noise, despite the fact that it hadn't reached their desired floor yet, and then the lights above them went out, plunging them into darkness. There was a beat of silence, and then, "You have got to be fucking  _kidding_  me."

Alec, however, barely heard it over the pounding of his heart. The situation grabbed him by the neck and yanked him back to a memory he had been trying to forget for a long time. He was a sophomore in high school when it happened, just when he was coming to terms with his sexuality. Sebastian, one of the more popular boys in his class, had convinced Alec to follow him into one of the janitor's closets, using his charm to lure him in. Alec had not been used to gaining the attention of anyone, and figured that he had gotten lucky. Sebastian was cute, even if he didn't have the best reputation when it came to relationships or manners in general. But instead of having an innocent make-out session like Alec had hoped, Sebastian shoved him into the small space and locked the door behind him, making him unable to get out, but not before taking a video to get a good laugh out of it. He ended up being stuck in there all night, and switching schools after all was said and done since the video had spread quickly. Needless to say, he was outed not only to the entire school, but also to his family, long before he was mentally or emotionally ready. It still made Alec shiver to this day.

Alec hadn't realized he had slid to the ground until he felt a hand on his shoulder. His eyes had still not adjusted to the darkness, but Magnus was the only other person there, so he knew it was him. "Alexander, are you okay?" Alec could tell by Magnus' tone of voice that it wasn't the first time he had asked. He sounded worried, and his hand slid from Alec's shoulder to behind his neck, his fingers brushing against his hair. He couldn't bring himself to answer as he noticed just how shallow his breathing was. He hadn't had a panic attack in quite a while, ever since he started dating Magnus, really. He usually felt safe in his boyfriend's presence, but between their fight and his memory coming back to bite him at the worst moment, he felt like he was once again alone in that closet with no way out.

"Hey, it's okay. It's just a power outage. I'm sure it'll come back on any minute and then we can get out of here. Just take some deep breaths." Magnus' voice was calm, and Alec found that he was compelled to listen to it, so he did, drawing in a long breath and then pushing it out slowly. He kept up this pattern while Magnus spoke to him softly, reassuring him that everything would be fine.

Once he finally had his breathing under control, Alec managed to choke out, "I'm sorry."

"No," Magnus replied, softly pressing his fingers to Alec's cheek. "I snapped on you for no reason other than that I was annoyed and tired. You didn't deserve it."

"But I brought up Ragnor. I swear I didn't mean to, it just slipped. I guess I'm still not used to the fact that he's gone."

Magnus was silent for a few moments, and Alec worried that he had messed up by bringing up Magnus' lifetime best friend again, but then he sighed. The breath grazed Alec's face, and he realized then just how close Magnus was. His heart stirred in his chest.

"That makes two of us, darling. But I shouldn't have gotten angry at you for bringing him up. We should talk about him every once in a while. I don't need him coming back to haunt me because he thinks I've forgotten about him."

Alec let out a small laugh at the idea, and reached up to grab Magnus' hand, which still rested on his cheek. He pressed a kiss to the knuckles and murmured a soft, "I love you," against his boyfriend's skin.

"I love you, too."

After that, they settled into the corner of the elevator, Magnus' head resting on Alec's shoulder as they waited for the power to come back on. When it did, it completed its descent to the first floor, and when the doors opened they were greeted by a group of workers, who shot them strange looks, probably due to the fact that they were both shirtless. One of them, however, was holding Chairman Meow, who was trying his best to wiggle out of the man's arms, hissing and sinking his claws into the man's jacket.

"Is this yours?" The man asked, and it seemed as though he was desperate to get rid of the cat.

Magnus sighed, and held out his arms. "Yes, he is. Thank you for looking after him." He took the Chairman into his arms, and then pressed the button for their floor, holding back his amused grin until the doors closed.

"Can we make it a new rule that neither of us is allowed to answer the door before 8:00 in the morning?"

Alec didn't hesitate for a second as he replied, "Deal."


End file.
